This abstract bamboo sculpture is by Japanese artist, Jiro Yonezawa (b. 1956). Yonezawa has worked with bamboo for over 35 years. He has studied in Beppu and spent a year as an apprentice to Masakazu Ono. From 1989 to 2007, he lived and worked in the United States where, influenced by American art, his work became bolder, larger and more sculptural. For Yonezawa, “the process of preparing strips to weave and then weaving forms from those strips is inherently meditative. The cacophony of life dissipates; the sculpture emerges vigorous and vibrant. Form, contrast, balance and the interplay of space, color, and texture are the elements I consider. With each new series I strive to be innovative and to tease out another emotion from the woven bamboo shape.”